Veronica Brooks left the Darden School of Business (www.darden.edu) on January 31 more than a little miffed. After listening to back-and-forth discussion at the school’s first-ever Symposium on Poverty—featuring experts in fields such as public policy, education and outreach—Brooks shook her head in dismay. “I’m just really surprised there isn’t more awareness about these things,” […]

What is it about bridges lately that has people wanting so much to slam into them? That’s the question City and County officials may be pondering, with a seeming increase in the number of bridge-related accidents throughout the area—and a special shout out goes to the 14th Street railroad bridge on the Corner, which wins […]

Apparently word travels fastâat least among habitual parking violators, anyway. As of January 1, a loophole closed that previously allowed offenders of unpaid parking tickets to go unpunished, and while it’s a little too early see any concrete trends, City officials say for now

Despite a recent trend in a violent crime upswing nationwide, it appears that at least for now Albemarle County has dodged the bullet—perhaps even a few of them. Newly released crime statistics show that the county saw a decrease in reported aggravated assaults and rapes (and no homicides) in 2006, while in Charlottesville violent crimes […]

After a postponed deadline, officials behind Charlottesville and Albemarle County’s massive transit/land-use master plan dubbed “Places29” (www.albemarle.org) say that the process turned out to be just as complex—if not more—than they anticipated. It’s called Places29, after all, not Place29. Places29 covers a 10-mile stretch of Route 29 between Route 250 and Greene County, encompassing the […]

With new studies, updated lesson plans and endless hours of homework, it was a busy year in Albemarle County and Charlottesville schoolsâand we’re not just talking about the students. Following their appointments in 2006, Albemarle County Public Schools

Educators may lament the hurdles that the No Child Left Behind Act creates for public schools, but one part of the act is almost universally beloved: emphasis on dual enrollment (DE) programs. In such programs, high school students receive both high school and college credit, a tactic that arguably helps equip the economically disadvantaged and […]

While few of us can draw the imaginary lines separating Charlottesville from Albemarle, recent surveys underscore the differences. When all is said and done, county living ranks just a cut above city living, according to two surveys from the UVA Center for Survey Research. Overall, they indicate that both city and county residents are extremely […]

Timing is everything. Students on track for a May graduation date from UVA are treated to a ceremonial smorgasbord of festive “Final Exercises,” while those slated for a January graduation get what could be called the collegiate shaft. Simply put, they don’t get a commencement ceremony at all. And because of tradition, the University would […]

Contraceptive devices might be getting smaller—patches that are paper thin, hormone pills that are low dose—but Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge (PPBR) is in final negotiations to supersize itself. It wants to merge with a North Carolina affiliate—a move organization officials say aims to help women retain their reproductive rights in Virginia. It’s an […]

When Wayne Russell threw the switch that set aglow thousands of string lights across the UVA Lawn for the annual Lighting of the Lawn on November 30, his holiday decorating was officially over for the year. “This is my Christmas decorations,” he said, pointing to the lights. “Besides the tree, I’m not doing any more at home.”

Anyone who believes “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” clearly hasn’t seen catering companies and restaurants haul in free meals for hungry hospital or medical clinic staff nationwide—paid for by pharmaceutical companies that in return get to shill their newest drugs. Ethically questionable, such free lunches could soon be things of the past […]

If you’re a UVA student, you probably had a nice nine-day vacation last week (well, unless you visited family). But for the workers at the University’s facilities operations department, when the students were away, there was simply no time to play. “When the students are here, it’s going 24-7 most of the time. During the […]

When UVA’s Darden School of Business announced last year that it would offer an M.B.A. for Executives programâan opportunity for those already in the business world to earn a degree in 22 monthsâit was putting its lofty reputation on the line. In an already saturated marketplace of schools with similar programs, UVA was getting an acknowledged late start.

Although “Victim Witness Specialist” may sound like the newest “Law & Order” series, it’s actually a real job title in the criminal justice system. And this year, the U.S. Justice Department honored Charlottesville’s Veronica Massie for her work in providing support, assistance and aid to victims of federal crimes. One of two victim-witness specialists for […]

With the newly christened addition of the $43 million Wilsdorf Hall, UVA isn’t just touting a brand spankin’ new engineering building. In what’s being seen as an already developing worldwide nanotech research scramble, the University is jockeying for a position as one of the county’s top nanotechnology institutes, with no intention of being left behind. […]

When former Virginia Governor Mark Warner announced last month he would not seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, he left not only a hoard of disappointed supporters eager for somebody other than Hillary Clinton, but also roughly $9.8 million in political contributions. Those contributions to Forward Together, his Alexandria-based political action committee (PAC), […]

In 1936, “Jefferson’s University” so wanted to maintain its segregated self that it implemented a unique admissions policy for dealing with black applicants. Its forward-thinking solution? The best and brightest African American minds were paid to go anywhere but UVAâ”anywhere” usually being a blacks-only college, according to a new weekly tour of UVA’s African American history.

Virginia has a long love affair with capital punishment. The first recorded execution in the colonies was in 1608 when Capt. George Kendall was put to death in Jamestown for being a Spanish spy. Four years later, the governor issued the Divine, Moral and Martial Laws, which imposed death for even minor offenses such as killing chickens, trading with Indians andâwait for itâstealing grapes.